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9/9/13

3 Body Positive Things You Should Do With A Child

Oh, kids! (i love talking about children like i am an elder with my 17 and 11 months of life experience)

The values they are taught and the people they grow up to
be will not only affect their own futur, but the ones of those around
them.

So we know
how important it is to set a good example and bla bla bla. Nevertheless, we
also know that we are not perfect beings, and sometimes we are not
conscious of the messages we are sending the younger generation. How do you
raise, mentor, teach, tutor, or babysit a child in a body positive
environment?

I have
worked with kids a lot, both for the FP and on my own time, so I have
learned a few concrete steps that you can take to properly educate
your young friend on the right and wrong ways to treat their body, both
physically and psychologically.

1. Food is a friend, not a foe

It is probably no shock for you to hear that
environments where diets, food guilt and fat shaming are present on a regular
basis have been proven to be the building blocks of an unhealthy relationship
with food. Instead of treating meals and snacks like the enemy you have to
suppress, hide, and feel ashamed of, speak of their nutritious value as the
charger that keeps your energy battery up and running. Food makes you grow
strong and tall and healthy, and that's all it should be. So instead of
constantly hammering on about the amount of calories certain items contain,
focus on their source of protein, vitamin and calcium. And don't forget to
mention that not all fats or carbs should be avoided like the plague, because
like all things in life, it's about moderation.

2. Coping Strategies

It's a very common, yet
unhealthy stereotype for women to drown their tears in a pit of Ben n
Jerrys. And while I am definitively pro-ice cream, these aren't the
coping mechanisms we want to instil in young kids. By
teaching kids that food can be a healer, you change to way they visualize food,
and often that healer will turn into a self harm weapon, by restriction,
binging or purging. It it therefor vital to redirect feelings of overwhelming
stress, sadness, anger, etc. towards a releasing activity. For quiet, more
focused kids, visual arts, writing and music are some key examples, or for the
more active child, accessible physical activity of any kind, like running,
kick boxing, karate or other self-defense classes, the list goes on. Kids
pick up habits and reflexes quicker than adults, and if the pattern sticks,
they can stay with them for the entirety of their lives. By teaching them that
food is not the answer to their problems, you also teach them to respect their
bodies, because the relationship between emotional eating behaviours and eating disorders in a Venn diagram is often a circle.

3. The Talk

One of our greatest shortcomings, in
my opinion, regarding kids, is how frequently we assume. We assume
that they know about the media, unrepresentative and manipulated images and the
psychology behind marketing. We assume that because we tell
them they are beautiful they automatically believe it. We assume that
they understand that bodies come in all different shapes and sizes, and
that one size does not fit all. But the reality of the
situation is that we often assume wrong. Sure, they hear snippets of wisdom
from their older sister or their soccer coach, but how many adults actually sit
them down with a magazine and explain why those people look that way? How many
adults explain what really makes someone beautiful, and with the help of a
mirror point out all the wonderfully imperfect things about the child
that make him or her beautiful? How many adults explain bone structure, the
relationship between weight, height, and muscle mass, and the reasons why
everyone's body should be respected? My guess is very few. And it's a shame,
because if the ones who see the world in its complexity cannot open the innocent
eyes of today's youth, who will?